This question in, well, question, as translated by Cheesemeister on Twitter, was directed at Nintendo of Japan President Shuntaro Furukawa and specifically asked about games from the Nintendo 64 and GameCube.
Apparently, the investor asking the question has been rather interested in seeing classic Kirby games re-released for the past few years. However, Furukawa’s response acknowledged the desire many people, other than avid Kirby fans, have to play these classic games:
It’s likely Furukawa wasn’t directing his last comment to just the Kirby fan’s persistent requests either. The investor questions all centered around the Switch’s long-term viability, trying to gain assurance the system’s sales wouldn’t go the Wii route and suddenly drop off after a few years.
We understand your desire to play past products.
Providing paid access to Nintendo’s classics would more than likely be one way of ensuring continued profit.
While there are nearly 10 million Switch Online subscribers, many lament the lack of desirable titles offered under the Classics option, which range from truly classic NES titles to the rather more obscure.
There’s no easy way to play many of Nintendo’s other classic games without owning the original hardware. While the SNES Classic Mini is still available on the market, it’s offerings are limited — not taking pirating into consideration, at least. Other retro consoles are pricey, with no guarantee of quality and functionality either.
In short, there’s definitely a market for a wider selection of classic games spanning the generations.
Whether this means we’ll see SNES, N64, and GameCube games on Switch Online isn’t certain, of course. The “other ways of providing them” could easily refer to a separate digital subscription service like Square Enix recently said it was considering, one not tied to the Switch’s emulation limitations.
